I was about nine years of age when the teacher posed the question "What do you want to be, when you grow up?" I informed my classmates I wanted to be a cook. They misheard and all laughed, including the teacher, thinking I wanted to be a crook! Needless to say, the whole class found this hilarious! I on the other hand was mortally embarrassed!

The dream of being a cook never materialised. The whole crook business didn’t work out for me either. But on rainy Saturday in June, I found myself jetting off with Ryan Air from Glasgow Prestwick to Rome Ciampino, on a Flavours of Italy Cooking Holiday, to learn more about this whole business of cooking.

I’d been working for Flavours since the previous September and one of the perks of the job was being sent to Rome to experience what an Italian Cooking Holiday really entailed. I found this slightly daunting, as the kitchen and I are barely on first name bases and I just about know the difference between a colander and a sieve! But an adventure and learning experience presented its self, so I grabbed it with both hands...

I arrived in Rome to be greeted by a smiling Italian man holding a sign with my name on it. He transported me to
Villa Roma where I met Giada, our host for the week. After I had freshened up, I went for a little wander around the villa to explore my new surroundings, which were quite luxurious indeed. I finally stopping to sit by the pool as the sun peeped out from behind the clouds for the first time that day.

The other guests in my group, who had arrived earlier, joined me and introduced themselves. We chatted over aperitifs before a three course meal was served. Our main meal consisted of roast potatoes and meatballs with a yummy tomato sauce which was followed by an ice-cream cake.

After dinner we chatted amongst ourselves. We were all solo travellers ranging in age from about 25 to late 50’s or so. There were a few amongst the group who had been on a Flavours holiday before and seemed to know a lot about cooking. I on the other hand was a complete novice but very willing to learn all that I could about Italian cooking…but to be honest, I was more excited about all the Italian food I was going to get to eat!!!

Sunday - A Day of Lemons and White Wine